Eduard Heimann

Nationality

Germany

Date of Birth

1889

Date of Death

1967

Political
Preference

Social Democrat (SPD)

Eduard Magnus Mortier Heimann was a German economist and social scientist. He was a strong proponent of ethical socialist programs in Germany in the 1920’s and later in the United States.
Heimann was born into a German merchant family with Jewish roots. Following his father, who served as a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, Heimann also became involved in the SPD. In addition, he worked as professor of theoretical and practical social economics at the University of Hamburg from 1925 to 1933. In the 1920s Heimann tried to convince the Social Democrats to follow an ethical socialist program of expanded social programs and improvements to working conditions. His ideas were condemned by the ruling Nazi party in 1933, which resulted in his books being banned and burned. In that same year, Heimann emigrated to the United States, where he taught at the New School in New York City. He was also part of The Fellowship of Socialist Christians, which was organized in the early 1930’s by Reinhold Niebuhr and others. In its early days the group thought capitalist individualism was incompatible with Christian ethics. Although not Communist, the group acknowledged Karl Marx’s social philosophy. Heiman was also one of the participants of the informal conference between Continental and American Christians in February 1942, as a member of the European Exile Invitees Network.
Post-war, Heimann, with Bennett and Patijn, was one of the first to acknowledge the unique position of Europe and European politics as a middle way between American capitalism and Soviet communism, a position which would influence the deliberations at the Amsterdam Assembly of 1948 a great deal.